Rough transcript
Welcome to Defender’s Voice. I am Paul Kattupalli. Thank you for joining us today. Please visit our website www.doctorpaul.org. Our ministry is focused on evangelism, medical missions and orphan homes. On this channel, we discuss things important to Christians all over the world. Let us see today’s question:
Charles Stanley’s Belongings were put on Auction: is this right?
Charles Stanley died on April 18. Over the weekend his grandson Matt Broderson tried to sell some of Charles Stanley’s former belongings on eBay. In less than one week after Mr.Stanley’s death, his grandon listed an engraved pocket watch and a framed portrait. Then there was an outrage. Matt came out and said, “a lot of people I love, a lot of people I care about, a lot of people who are very close to me have pointed out that this is disgusting behavior…..So, I just want to go on the record to say I admit I shouldn’t have done that”.
That’s Good. He regrets what he has done. Let us ask ourselves, why are young people behaving like this? Whatever happened to basic sympathy for a grandfather?
When I saw this news, I thought of Hemant Mehta’s book ‘I sold my soul on eBay. Hemant Mehta is an atheist writer. His book ‘I sold my soul on eBay’ made a big sensation when it came out. Lord Jesus Christ asked, ‘What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul’. (Mark 8:36). Salvation of your soul is more important than gaining the whole world. You are an eternal soul. When you stop believing that, you don’t mind selling it on ebay!
That is the crux of the problem. Too many young people, even those raised in Christian homes, lost this eternal perspective. An engraved pocket watch could remind you of your own mortality in this world. That could be used to calibrate your own life before the eternity you are going to enter.
Remembrance:
The US President would get up in the White House and read Charles Stanley’s book for a morning devotion. That is a great heritage. If Charles Stanley were my grandfather, I would keep those two objects as my most precious memories from my grandfather. Matt probably made less than $5000 on both objects. He should have looked at them as priceless memorabilia.
My mom wrote me many letters while she was alive. She passed away in 2018. I preserved all her letters on my shelf. Sometimes I take time to read her letters. During those moments, I cherish her memories. Her letters also reinforce the godly instructions she used to send on my way.
Same with the belongings of my father. My dad passed away in 2018. He gave me many books and Bibles over the years. I kept them on my shelf. When I look at those books, they remind me of my dad. That is the Christian heritage I got from my parents. We should respect the belongings of our loved ones and preserve them for our own edification.
When our loved ones die, we bury their mortal remains and we erect a tombstone on their graves. We have a memorial day. We should take time to visit their graves and read their tombstones. In doing so, we are preserving their heritage. We are respecting their earthly life. We are also contemplating our own mortality. Our time in this world is limited. Are we spending it for God or for unimportant things? Matt says, ‘My grandfather’s words saved me from suicide. I was addicted to drugs and alcohol’. If his grandfather meant a lot to him, why did he want to sell away his belongings?
Responsibility: Then, secondly responsibility. Read 1 Kings chapter 19. Elijah was a great prophet of God. Elisha was his best student in the school of prophet. Then the time came that God wanted to take Elijah into heaven. What did Elijah do? He went to meet Elisha. Elisha was plowing a field. Elijah approached him and threw his cloak over Elisha’s shoulders. What does that signify? Elijah passed on the ministry to Elisha. For the rest of his life, that cloak would remind Elisha that God put a great responsibility on his life. That cloak would remind Elisha that he inherited a great ministry from Elijah.
Matt should have kept his grandfather’s watch to remind him that God expects him to continue the ministry of his grandfather. He should have kept his grandfather’s portrait to remind him that he inherited a great ministry from his grandfather. But sadly, Matt did not think along those lines. He was more interested in making some quick money based on the popularity of his grandfather.
Let us pray for him and let us honor the great ministry of Charles Stanley by praying for his family.